English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

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From Latin praevalere meaning 'to have greater power or be stronger', from prae 'before' and valere 'to be strong'.

From Latin praedicere meaning 'to foretell', from prae 'before' and dicere 'to say'.

From Latin praedestinare meaning 'to determine beforehand', from prae 'before' and destinare 'to appoint'.

From the prefix pre-, from Latin prae meaning 'before', plus owned, from Old English agnian meaning 'to possess'.

From the prefix pre-, from Latin prae meaning 'before', plus order, from Old French ordre and Latin ordo.

Plural of prayer, from Old French preiere, from Latin precaria, from precari meaning 'to entreat'.

An abbreviation: from the PowerPoint file extension .ppt in the software sense, and an initialism of parts per trillion or percentage point in the technical senses.

An initialism of President of the United States, from a family of abbreviations used in official and press shorthand alongside FLOTUS and SCOTUS.

French and Latin

From postal, from French poste and Italian posta, ultimately from Latin ponere meaning 'to place'; plus code, from Latin codex.

A compound of the prefix post- meaning 'after' and truth; here post- carries the sense 'belonging to a time when the thing has ceased to matter' rather than simply 'after'.

A shortening of postoperative, from Latin post meaning 'after' plus operative.

Plural of possibility, from Latin possibilis meaning 'able to be done', from posse meaning 'to be able'.

From portray, from Old French portraire meaning 'to draw forth or depict', from Latin protrahere.

Spanish, literally 'for favour', from Latin pro meaning 'for' and favor meaning 'goodwill'.

Greek and Latin

From Greek polys meaning 'many' plus sexual, from Latin sexus.

Latin and Greek

From polarize, formed on polar, via Latin polaris from Greek polos meaning 'pole' or 'axis'.

Latin and Greek

From polar, via Latin polaris, from Greek polos 'axis, pole'. The verb polarize adds the verb-forming suffix -ize, and -ation then turns that verb into a noun.

Calque of French point de vue.

A variant of plait, from Old French pleit, ultimately from Latin plicare meaning 'to fold'.

platonic relationship

From the name of the Greek philosopher Plato, whose Symposium describes a love that rises above physical desire towards the ideal; the modern narrower sense of 'friendship without sex' developed later.

From place, which came through Old French from Latin platea 'broad street', itself from Greek plateia (hodos) 'broad way'.

A Spanish word whose oldest recorded sense is 'kitchen boy'; the intensifier use is a later Mexican development.

From Spanish piñata, from Italian pignatta 'earthenware cooking pot', related to pigna 'pine cone', which the earliest clay versions resembled.

pillow princess

A compound of pillow and princess, the image being someone who stays lying down and is waited on.